Aethosphere Chronicles: Winds of Duty by Jeremiah D. Schmidt Page B

Havalorne. And if you do not do as I say this
very instant, I’ll have you arrested right here, not only for
failing to follow orders, but for dereliction of duty,
insubordination, siding with the enemy, and inciting mutiny!” The
captain ended in a red-faced roar that set the veins on his bald
head to throbbing purple just beneath his parchment-like skin. “Now
resume your course this instant!”
    “I’d rather end up like Hastings. If I’m to
meet my makers, I’ll do so without the blood of innocent people on
my hands.”
    “Marines, arrest this traitor,” issued Moore
rigidly, folding his arms behind his back. The two guards jumped
into action like well-trained dogs, but Gryph offered no
resistance. Instead, he just stood proud at the helm and let them
take him. “Bazzon,” yelled the captain as the prisoner was being
escorted past his station, “can you pilot an airship?”
    “Aye, sir,” replied the stunned ensign
automatically. Over the years Lockney had assigned him to
apprentice nearly every station he could, including the helm.
    Gryph locked his eyes on Bar. “Without you
to fly, they’re out of options,” he pleaded, struggling momentarily
with the men clutching his arms as he sought to say his piece.
“They’ll have to give up this dishonorable endeavor—there’ll be no
one else to carry it out effectively, you keen? You’re a better man
than Moore…so don’t do his dirty work for him, Bar.”
    “Ensign,” the captain’s voice cut through
the room’s tense atmosphere like a sharp knife, “man the helm as
ordered, and set a course for the Torchlight !”
    Bar’s mind suddenly spiraled and his body
went numb. Gryph couldn’t expect him not to follow the master’s
orders, but then he couldn’t very well follow along with such an
immoral plan without feeling sick inside. Torn between duty or
honor, Bar suddenly felt like the bridge was closing in around him,
constricting to a single point, and it threatened to crush the very
life from him. Gryph’s doleful brown eyes flashed between anger and
sympathy, but Moore’s voice rose to a thunderous rumble, drowning
out even Bar’s own turbulent thoughts. Without realizing it, the
conflicted ensign found himself moving towards the wheel with
mechanical obedience.
    As he did, Gryph lashed out from behind.
“You do this and you’re just as vile as that beast posing in the
King’s uniform! Give up this folly, Bar, or the gods will sit in
judgment of you as well!”
    But Bar’s hands fell on the wheel on their
own, and he found himself gripping the controls so firm it tore the
skin over one of his chapped knuckles. Blood welled up from the
wound and trickled down his hand, dripping over the wheel’s
age-worn wood. Even long after the pilot was taken away, his words
lingered in Bar’s mind, twisting his guts into an ever tighter knot
as the minutes ticked away and the plight of the civilian transport
remained ignored. Outside, the Chimera soared through an
ominous sky choking under clouds and mist.
    But what choice do I have?
    “Surrounded by traitors,” the captain
grumbled aloud to himself like a man haunted, “would that I could
have been assigned a commission to an all Kinglander crew… The Gods
only know the rest of the kingdoms have shown their true colors of
late. If only I could burn them all out of the sky…as I’ll do so my
prey. They’ll not escape me. I’ll make an example of those Finny
dogs, one and all. Show them no noble family can be allowed to
circumvent the King’s authority, not even one so prestigious. Only
one peace can be made, and they’ll soon discover that well
enough.”

Chapter 6:
Flashpoint
    The Chimera banked abruptly under Bar’s
guidance. With his heart thundering in his chest, and his vision
narrowed to a point fixed on the ship’s bow spar, his only concern
was holding to the wheel for as long as he could. If I can get
us far enough away from the Scarlet Cloud, the radio jam will be
ineffective,